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The Fine Art “4 


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oo: HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
_ THE DIVISION OF THE FINE ARTS, FOGG 
70 EES March, 1924 


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The Fine Arts 


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HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
THE DIVISION OF THE FINE ARTS, FoGcG ART MUSEUM 
Match, 1924 


‘ok * %* the man in the street, finding 
no worth in himself which corresponds 
to the force which built a tower or 
sculptured a marble god, feels poor 
when he looks at these. 


“To. him a: palace, "a state; ormea 
costly book have an alien and for- 
bidding air, much like a gay equipage, 
and seem to say like that, “Who are 
you, sir?’ 


“Yet they all are his, suitors for his 
notice, petitioners to his faculties that 
they will come out and take possession. 


“The picture waits for my verdict; 
it is not to command me, but I am to 
settle its claim to praise.”’ 


RALPH WALDO EMERSON 





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3 The Fine Arts 


T is a fact, not a theory, that men are 
drawn to the beautiful. “Their apprecia- 
tion of it is limited by their association 

with it. 

The importance of the Fine Arts in the life 
of a nation is abundantly testified to by his- 
toric fact. But their importance in educa- 
tion, particularly university education, has 
never been sufficiently stressed. 


The purpose of a university Fine Arts 
department, as distinguished from an art 
school, is not, as is popularly supposed, the 
creation of artists. It is to give a large num- 
ber of men a familiarity with the art herit- 
age of our civilization, and to a limited num- 
ber of men the training and experience neces- 
sary to enable them to serve as curators and 
directors of museums, or connoisseurs, critics 
and teachers of the arts. 

Educational methods within the last half 
century have greatly improved. Instruction 
in the Fine Arts, formerly approached from 
the literary point of view left students with 


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THE FINE ARTS IN A LABORATORY 
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a literary appreciation of the old masters 
rather then an appreciation of their works. 


Instruction in the Division of the Fine 
Arts of Harvard University as now in use at 
the Fogg Art Museum has been characterized 
as equivalent to the “Case System” in the 
teaching of law or business, and laboratory 
work in the sciences. It consists in bringing 
the students into actual contact with the ob- 
jects of their study—great works of art, 


The Museum is the Laboratory 


‘This method of instruction has been made 
possible because Harvard has been fortunate 
in her friends. “The Fogg Art Museum, 
where the instruction is given, and which 
stands in the college yard, is generally ad- 
mitted to contain the most useful teaching 
collection of any university in America. Un- 
fortunately the collection has outgrown the 
ability of the museum to contain it, and 
many masterpieces which would be the pride 
of any museum are tucked away or hidden 
in inconspicuous corners. 

The obvious advantages of having such a 
collection of art treasures in a university are 


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THE FINE ARTS IN A LABORATORY 
that it makes the Fine Arts a living reality in 
university life and adds vitally to the cultural 
and educational environment. But the chief 
purpose which the museum serves, although 
it is open to the public, is that of an art 
laboratory for the students. 


The majority of the students who study 
the Fine Arts take two or three courses; 
whether they take any or not is optional. 
Those who go into the work professionally 
take many. In 1894 there were two profes- 
sors in the Fine Arts Department. ‘This year 
there are 17 professors and instructors, giving 
44 courses to 450 students. “These 44 courses 
cover the whole range of the History of the 
Fine Arts and the Theory of Design from 
ancient to modern times. 


The larger elementary courses are con- 
ducted with the help of illustrations by. 
lantern slides, while in the advanced profes- 
sional courses the students examine, study 
and analyze with their instructors the actual 
objects of art. Intimate contace wien 
these objects stimulates research work and 
study. It encourages the student to develop 


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WiaeeriNe ARTS~IN A LABORATORY 


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powers of appreciation; and it creates taste 
and understanding. It gives men who later 
turn their efforts into industrial and other 
practical fields the realization that the value 
of art is in its appeal to their emotions and its 
power to satisfy certain definite needs of 
humanity rather than a luxury for the idle 
rich and for dilettantes. 


The Importance of Professionally Trained 
Men in the Fine Arts 


‘To those who wish to become directors or 
curators of museums, or connoisseurs, the 
Fogg Art Museum furnishes the opportunity 
to study and analyze the art of the past by 
first hand observation. ‘The importance of 
the museum director or curator, and of art 
connoisseurs, critics and teachers, is often not 
generally appreciated. 

The curator of a museum is a custodian 
of the most valuable and destructible relics 
of the past. By improper care they can be 
destroyed in a year, and the loss can never 
be replaced. A curator’s guardianship calls 
for expert knowledge of physics and chemis- 
try as they apply to his profession. He must 


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know the business of operating a museum, 
of acquiring new works of art, and should 


be able to avail himself of the opportunity to - 
stimulate the public by lectures, descriptive 
literature and other means. ‘The use of the 
Fogg Art Museum as a workshop or an art 
laboratory, and the instruction given in it, 
are designed to develop the experience, critical 
faculties and judgment necessary to the cu- 
rator s profession. 

‘The museum official is the educator of thr 
public in the Fine Arts. His background 
must be thorough and his judgment sound. 
Aside from his duty of evaluating works of 
art according to the accepted standards, one 
of his most important functions today is the 
detection of forgeries. 

‘The teacher of the Fine Arts develops 
standards of taste and appreciation and helps 
to pass them on from one generation to the 
next. When a man has received his instruc- 
tion at the Fogg Art Museum and is called 
upon to teach in an institution which has 
access to a public museum, he has learned 
how to select and use his material. If he 


lacks access to original works of art, he has 


been taught to select and use photographs. 


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THE FINE ARTS IN A LABORATORY 





Demand for Professionally Trained Men 
is Greater than the Supply 


It is difficult to furnish exact figures as to 
the number of men actually engaged in the 
various branches of the profession. It is 
known that 24 Harvard men and eight Rad- 
cliffe women are on the staffs of museums and 
23 are engaged in teaching. In addition there 
are at least 16 artists and critics. These fig- 
ures do not include those who are architects. 


Within the last year the Division of the 
Fine Arts has received numerous requests from 
museums and art centers for men capable of 
serving as curators. Unfortunately the 
physical limitations of the Fogg Art Museum 
have severely hindered the Division in fully 
meeting this demanc. There have also been 
received many requests from secondary schools 
and universities for teachers, but again the 
Division has not been able to meet the de- 
mand. Considerable influence has been ex- 
erted on the teaching of art in public and 
private schools through courses given annual- 
ly by the Division of Fine Arts during the 
summer months. 





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THE FINE ARTS IN A LABORATORY 





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Original Research Work in and out 
of the Museum 


Another phase of the work of the Fine 
Arts Division is the original exploration, ex- 
cavation and research work in the field of 
archeology. This not only further increases 
the sum of human knowledge on these sub- 
jects but incidentally, it is hoped, will further 
enrich the collections of the Museum which 
are used in teaching the students. There is now 
an expedition in Western China, along the 
ancient Indo-China trade route, engaged in 
archeological exploration financed in advance 
for five years. A considerable program of 
excavation in Greek lands has been financed 
for the same period, but has been temporarily 
suspended because of political conditions in 
that country. The stimulating effect of these 
current explorations and excavations on in- 
struction in the Fine Arts is almost as valu- 
able as the acquisitions which will probably 
result from them. 


Another interesting research activity is be- 
ing carried on with regard to the chemistry 
of pigments, with the assistance of a trained 
chemist. Many of the paintings created to- 


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2 THE FINE ARTS IN A LABORATORY 
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day by our leading artists may not last more 
than fifty or a hundred years because of the 
use of inferior canvasses and pigments; and 
many older pictures are in danger of destruc- 
tion through improper care. Members of 
the Division have spent considerable time in 
Europe studying with experts in this field, 
and the work should be further developed. 
Work of this nature is a definite obligation 
on the part of America in its relation to the 
rapidly growing proportion of the art treas- 
ures of the world which are coming to this 
country. 


The University’s Opportunities and 
Obligations 


A modern university is fundamentally a 
servant of the nation. It must sense the na- 
tion’s educational needs at least a generation 
before the results of its services can be effected. 


In the growth of the American nation, 
whose history to date has been chiefly marked 
by the spirit of the pioneer and an extraor- 
dinarily rapid development, the Fine Arts 
have played but a small part compared with 
contemporaneous development in Europe. 


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Meleager, an example of Greek sculpture of the 4th Century, 
B. C., in the Fogg Art Museum. 


THE FINE ARTS IN A LABORATORY - 
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‘This is but natural for the physical conquest 
of a continent largely precludes the growth 
of other influences. 


But we are rapidly emerging, if we have not 
already emerged, from the great era of expan- 
sion, and while there remain abundant oppor- 
tunities, the greater part of the present nation- 
al development is of a permanent nature. It 
is time that America should not only evidence 
the attainment of maturity, but also that 
her people should have the benefits resulting 
from it. 


The opportunities and obligations to fur- 
ther these ends primarily fall on the modern 
university. To the acceptance of the op- 
portunities and the discharge of the obliga- 
tions the efforts of the Fine Arts Division of 
Harvard University have been dedicated, 


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Angelico in the Fogg Art Museum 











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